Notching unit



Oct. 15, 1968 J. H. HERZOG 3,405,583

NOTCHING UNIT Filed Dec. 19, 1966 e 2 Sheets-Shet 1 INVENTOR.

JOHN 14! $4522 06 m' g w A'ITORNEYS Oct. 15, 1968 J. H, HERZOG 3,405,583

NOTCHING UNIT Filed Dec. 19, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Jay/v Al /-/-,e 206 y Z ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,405,583 NOTCHING UNIT John H. Herzog, Clarence, N.Y., assignor to Houdaille Industries, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y. a corporation of Michigan Filed Dec. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 602,825 8 Claims. (Cl. 83588) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A corner and edge notching unit having a reciprocable punch body with projecting gibs guided by a standard and cheek plates, and a tie member which joins the free ends of the cheek plates and extends through a punch body recess leaving the front of the punch tip exposed to reach up to an angular surface on a workpiece.

BACKGROUND Field of the invention Edge notching units have previously been successfully made and operated, and corner notching units have previously been successfully made and operated. The successes of these devices have in large been dependent on a substantially balanced distribution of forces. However,

attempts to provide notching units made to such geom-,

etry that they theoretically can do both edge and corner notching have not been entirely satisfactory in that as the thickness of the workpiece increases, the amount of unbalance produced within the device during corner notching has been so excessive as to greatly limit the thickness of workpiece material that can be handled, and if such limitation has not been imposed by the operator, damage to the notching unit has usually resulted.

SUMMARY The notching unit according to the present invention includes a base to which a die is secured, the base having an upwardly extending standard against which there is slidably guided a punch holder. The punch holder has laterally projecting vertical gibs which are guided in cheek plates secured to the base. A tie member is secured to the forward ends of the cheek plates and extends through a recess which extends across the front side of the punch holder. The tie member precludes twisting and/ or spreading of the cheek plates due to unbalanced forces created by use of the device as a corner notching unit. As the tie member is disposed in a recess, it also serves to limit upward movement of the punch holder while enabling the actual punch or punch tip to project forwardly beneath the tie member so that its forward cutting edge may reach up to an angle on a workpiece.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a notching unit of the sub-press type which has a 3,405,583 Patented Oct. 15, 1968 construction enabling it to be used not only as an edge notching unit, but also to withstand the unbalanced forces present when the same is used as a corner notching unit.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rugged notching unit which can be used on workpieces having a thickness up to one-half inch without damage to the unit.

Many other advantages, features and additional objects of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

On the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a notching unit assembly provided in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view thereof;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of another embodiment of a notching unit assembly providing in accordance with the principles of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 4.

As shown on the drawings:

The principles of this invention are particularly useful when embodied in a notching unit assembly such as shown in FIGS. 1-3, generally indicated by the numeral 10. The notching unit or apparatus includes a base 11 having an upwardly extending standard 12 integral therewith having a forwardly directed face which comprises a fixed slide surface 13. A 3-piece notching die 1416 is secured by bolts and pins to an upper surface of the base 11, the lower surface of which is flat for being supported on the bed of a press (not shown). The bed of the press may be directly or indirectly provided with locating apertures for the notching unit 10, and to register therewith there is provided a pair of pins 17 which have a pilot portion 18 at one end, a central portion 19 threaded into the base 11, and an exposed knob portion 20, rotation of which extends or retracts the pilot portion 18 as desired.

The notching die 14-16 provides in this embodiment a U-shaped cutting edge which defines an opening that communicates with a slug chute 21. The standard 12 has a grease fitting 22 which communicates with a passage leading to the slide surface 13.

The notching unit 10 includes a punch holder 23 of generally rectangular horizontal cross-section, the punch holder 23 having a rear side 24 slidably disposed against and guided by the slide surface 13, a pair of lateral sides 25, 26, and a front side 31. The lateral sides 25, 26 are respectively provided with a pair of vertical gibs 27, 28, both of which extend vertically the entire vertical length of the punch holder 23. Each of the gibs 27, 28 has a forwardly directed face 29, 30 used for guidance as described below, while the other two sides of the gibs 27, 28 are normally constructed so as not to be engaged. The front side 31 has a horizontal recess 32 extending horizontally across the punch holder 23, the lower end of the recess 32 being an upwardly directed abutment 33. The upper surface of the punch holder 23 is disposed and directed to be engaged by the ram of the press, and a rearward portion is cut away as at 34 to insure application of the ram forces to the forward portion of the punch holder 3 23. The lower end of the punch holder 23 is provided with a notching punch 55 having a selected configuration to cooperate with the cutting edge of the notching 1416, in this instance being U-shaped.

The notching unit or apparatus includes a pair of cheek plates 35, 36 secured by screws and pins to opposite sides of the standard 12. The cheek plates 35, 36 have confronting vertica'l faces 37, 38 which extend or project forwardly from the lateral sides of the standard 12, beyond the slide surface 13, and each of these faces 37, 38 is provided with a vertical recess 39, 40 which respectively receive the gibs 27, 28. The recesses 39, 40 extend the entire vertical length of the cheek plates 35, 36 and have rearwardly directed faces 41, 42 which respectively slidably engage and guide the forwardly directed faces 29, of the gibs 27, 28.

The notching unit or apparatus 10 includes a tie member 52 which comprises a fiat rigid plate which is secured by pins and screws to the forward ends of the cheek plates 35, 36. The central portion of the tie member 52 extends through the punch holder recess 32, and in the plane illustrated in FIG. 1, the cross section of the tie member 52 is disposed entirely within such recess so that the forward face 31 of the punch holder 23, and the forward cutting edge of the notching punch 55 extend forwardly beyond the tie member 52. This feature enables the forward cutting edge to be brought directly up against an angle or flange on a workpiece to be notched. The tie member 52 has a lower edge 43 which is engageable by the abutment 33 of the punch holder for retaining the punch holder in the assembly.

The punch holder 23 is biased upwardly by a number of springs, there being four springs used in this embodiment. Semi-cylindrical cavities are provided at opposite sides of the punch holder 23 between the gibs 27, 28 and the forward face or side 31. These semi-cylindrical cavities are closed at the upper end. Similarly, the cheek plates 35, 36 are provided with confronting semi-cylindrical cavi ties which are closed at their lower ends, and which in this embodiment are open at their upper ends. Thus, cylindrical cavities are defined through which the planes of the sides 25, 26 and the faces 37, 38 pass. Within each cylindrical cavity, there is disposed a relatively large spring 44 and a relatively small spring 45 which thereby act between the adjacent cheek plates 35, 36 and the punch holder 23 to urge the punch holder 23 upwardly. Suflicient force is provided by these springs to strip the notching punch 55 if necessary from the workpiece, while upward movement is restricted or limited by the abutment 33 acting on the tie member 52.

The edge of a workpiece may be inserted between the punch 55 and the die 14-16 and on actuation of the punch holder 23, a notch will be produced in the edge of the workpiece corresponding to the width of the punch 55 and having a depth corresponding to the extent that the workpiece is inserted. A particularly important feature of the present invention is that this structure may also be used to provide a corner notch. Assuming that a rectangular workpiece is inserted with its edges respectively perpendicular to the punch holder sides 31, 25, but not intersecting or underlying the side 26, it is evident that a tremendous cocking force is produced. However, the structure disclosed withstands such unbalanced forces without damage to itself while performing the desired operation neatly and accurately, even in heavy gage workpieces, which may be as thick as /2 inch of steel.

The present construction is further advantageous in that it may be readily enlarged to accommodate larger notching punches. One such example is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In these views, corresponding components have been given the same reference numeral with the sufiix a, and identical parts have been given the same reference numerals.

The embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5 is quite massive, and in a typical construction, the area underlying the punch holder 23a is six inches wide and four inches deep. To provide for these larger sizes, the cheek plate recesses 39a, 40a and the gibs 27a, 28a have been shifted forwardly from the fixed slide surface 13a. However, the springs 44 which are reacted on by the cheek plates a, 36a still are disposed between the recesses 39a, 40a and the front side 31a of the punch holder 23a.

A further modification is that the gibs 27a, 28a are separate strips secured as by screws to the punch holder 23a and lying in grooves receptive thereof. Further, to provide additional stripping force, there is provided a ram plate 46 which is cut away as at 34a as explained above, the ram plate 46 being secured by screws to the upper end of the punch holder 23a. The ram plate 46 has an overhanging rearwardly extending portion 47 which overhangs the upper end of the standard 12a which is provided with upwardly opening cylindrical cavities having two sets of springs 44, for acting therebetween.

Although various minor modifications might be suggested by those versed in the art, it should beunderstood that I wish to embody within the scope of the patent Warranted hereon all such embodiments as reasonably and properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.

I claim as my invention:

1. Notching apparatus for use between the bed and ram of a press, comprising in combination:

(a) a base adapted to be secured to the press bed and adapted to detachably support a notching die, said base including an upwardly extending standard having a forwardly facing fixed slide surface;

(b) a punch holder of generally rectangular horizontal cross-section adapted to support a notching punch beneath it and to be engaged by the ram at its upper end, said holder having a rear side slidably disposed against said slide surface, said punch holder having a pair of vertical gibs respectively projecting from each of its lateral sides, each said gib having a forwardly directed face, and said punch holder having a recess extending horizontally across its front side;

(c) a pair of rigid cheek plates rigidly secured to opposite sides of said standard, and having forwardly projecting confronting vertical faces slidably guiding said lateral sides of said punch holder, each of said cheek plates having a vertical recess receiving one of said punch holder gibs, and said vertical recesses respectively including rearwardly directed faces slidably engaging said forwardly directed faces of said gibs; and

(d) a tie member secured to the forward ends of said cheek plates and extending through said punch holder recess.

2. Notching apparatus according to claim 1, which includes springs acting between said cheek plates and said punch holder at a position on said holder intermediate said gibs and its front side.

3. Notching apparatus according to claim 1, which includes spring means biasing said punch holder upwardly, the lower end of said holder recess being an upwardly directed abutment engageable with the lower edge of said tie member.

4. Notching apparatus according to claim 1, which includes a punch secured to said punch holder and having a cutting edge extending forwardly beyond said tie member.

5. Notching apparatus according to claim 1, in which said gibs extend the entire vertical length of said punch holder, and said vertical recesses of said cheek plates extend the entire vertical length of said cheek plates.

6. Notching apparatus according to claim 1, in which said tie member comprises a flat rigid plate.

7. Notching apparatus according to claim 1, which includes a pin having a pilot portion at one end, a central portion threaded into said base, and an exposed knob 5 6 portion by which the pilot portion may be extended and tending the entire vertical length of said punch holder retracted. and said cheek plates respectively; and

Notching apparatus according to claim in which: ((1) said tie member comprising a flat rigid plate. (a) said spring means are reacted on by said cheek plates at a position on said holder intermediate said 5 References Cited gibs and said front side; (b) a punch secured to said punch holder and having UNITED STAPITES PATENTS a cutting edge extending forwardly beyond said tie 3,213,741 10/1965 Harding 83-635 X member; (c) said gibs and said recesses of said check plates ex- 10 JAMES MEISTER, Pllmal'y Emmmer- 

